You are not one of them. You have misunderstood an unwritten, unspoken law and are being relegated to your proper place, reminded that you don’t have the right to defend what’s not yours, nor will eveer be totally ‘One of theirs’.
The membrane is woven by the herd instinct. It protects everyone that belongs to the herd by birth or because they have been assimilated to it. There are no rules on why some people ‘belong’ and others don’t, in spite of theoretically being more similar.
The membrane isolates potentially different individuals because differences are perceived as dangerous. It is transparent enough that everyone can pretend it doesn’t exist. Its existence is denied vehemently if the outsider even dares to hint at it. They will be gaslighted into thinking they are losing their capacity to think logically.
‘But HOW can you say that? You have been treated the same as everyone! I can’t believe you’d be so arrogant/ insensitive to think that… It’s you that isolates yourself! You always want to have it your way! Why don’t you try asking people if they want help instead of barging in and doing those weird things you do?’
So all your prudence and good will have amounted to nothing. All your efforts to adapt were meaningless.
Why?
Because the Herd only wants what it knows and you are unknown to them, alien and foreign. They love their miseries, adore their shortcomings and thrive in the midst of their chaos.
Because you, The Outsider, are the proverbial rose in the dung heap, the flamingo in the chicken coop, the green dog in the Herd.
Your value is of no use to them.